Iraqi, Coalition Forces Uncover Enemy Weapons

Iraqi police seized a weapons cache southeast of Baghdad yesterday while conducting a dismounted patrol. The cache contained 36 100 mm illumination mortar rounds, two 120 mm mortars, five unserviceable rocket-propelled grenade launchers, a mortar bipod and an unserviceable machine gun barrel. The munitions were transported to a joint security station and destroyed by an explosive ordnance detachment.

In Baghdad’s Rashid district yesterday, Iraqi security forces and U.S. soldiers confiscated eight assault rifles, and Iraqi soldiers found and cleared a homemade bomb. An Iraqi explosives ordnance disposal team dismantled the bomb.

Also yesterday, Iraqi soldiers found a cache in Baghdad’s Mansour district that included three propane tanks rigged as bombs, 40 pounds of ball bearings, seven rocket-propelled grenade heads, six cell phone chargers, two mortar rounds, two license plates, two 45 pound bags of explosives, a pressure plate, four sniper rifles, a cell phone, three light switches and a spool of copper wire.

Earlier, U.S. soldiers found a cache of 16 mortar rounds northwest of Baghdad.

On Dec. 27 in the Rashid district, Iraqi soldiers found two 120 mm mortar rounds and U.S. soldiers confiscated five assault rifles, two rifles and an ammunition magazine while enforcing the Baghdad Weapons Free Zone Policy.